Never Forget, Much to Regret
by BlackDragon733
Summary: What exactly did happen all that time ago with Helen and Stephen and why keep it from Cutter for all those years? This is me trying to justify it to myself as much as anyone. We all know the basics of what happened, and I can't do summaries.
1. Shy Bairns Get Nowt

**A/N: So I haven't written in a while and this is a new fandom for me, let's see how this goes... If you can tell I really do imagine characters acting this out, so if it ever seems a little script like, well that's why!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine (but i wish Stephen was ;) )**

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Stephen looked at his timetable as he followed the crowd to the lecture theatre. Natural History I with Prof. H. Cutter. He imagined, as with the other lectures so far, a stuffy old man with elbow patches reciting a speech in the same monotone he had used for years.

He walked into the theatre and saw James from the palaeontology class yesterday sat halfway up. He grinned and headed up to join him. They sat watching the crowd file in until the stream stopped and the noise had slowly escalated into a loud babble of unintelligible voices. Eventually the lights went out, which quickly got everyone's attention and the room quietened. A huge picture filled the screen on the wall behind the podium, which was empty. The screen showed the shrunken fossil of some kind of elephant. Several of the girls and more than one of the guys looked away or screwed up their faces but Stephen was already jotting down 'Best preserved mammoth fossil' in his notes, having already read about this in some magazine or other.

Suddenly a door opened at the back of the theatre, letting light flow down the steps and the students turned to see the new entrant. Silhouetted in the doorframe Stephen saw it was definitely no stuffy old man.

"_Mammuthus primigenius _– the best preserved fossil of a woolly mammoth ever found. This particular specimen was uncovered in northwestern Siberia by a Nenets reindeer herder in 2007." The woman said in a husky voice, striding down the stairs to the centre of the room, letting the doors close dramatically behind her so the room was once again lit only by the slideshow. As she walked, passing quite close to where Stephen sat, his friend nudged him and whispered appreciatively "Check it out!" Stephen just raised an eyebrow at him, grinning, before turning back to the front.

"The Ice Baby was preserved by falling into a peat bog over 40,000 years ago in the Pleistocene era, where the lack of oxygen meant no aerobic detritivores could begin to work on it and the natural shifting of land meant the creature did not see light again until it was once more lifted to the surface. Due to the frozen conditions it could have lain there for anything from a few months to a few hours before it was found." By this point she had reached the podium and leant over the stand. The males in the room noticeably shifted forwards in their seats. One person at the back wolf whistled, to which Professor Cutter smirked.

"Thank you. Now that I have your attention we can begin the introductions. I am Professor Helen Cutter and in this module I will try to impress upon you the fact that while this may be titled Natural _H__istory_ there is still a huge future in the subject, limited only by the speed of research - some of which is happening at this very institution - and the technology we have available."

After an hour of scribbling notes on the best preserved fossils yet found and what had kept them that way, the class began packing up their things. James leaned across, grinning. "I think we picked the right course, mate"

Stephen laughed and sarcastically said, "Oh right, you've been checking out Professor Walding?"James wrinkled his nose at the reference to the stumpy lady from the earlier lecture and the only other female professor on the course.

"Now that's worth getting up for at 9am on a Thursday" said Gary, just joining them from the next row. The boys began laughing among themselves as they shoved the last of their books away and slung their bags over their shoulders.

"So what've we got next?" James asked. Stephen didn't start walking with them, causing the other two to look back and Gary said "You alright?"

"Yeah, go ahead, I just want to ask something." He answered, regretting it as his friends immediately began a cacophony of "Oi oi" and "Get in there, Stephen" He just shook his head at them and turned to go back down the stairs, thinking of his parents favourite mantra – 'Shy bairns get nowt'.

He joined the small group of people stood around the front desk, talking to the Professor. After listening patiently to all of their queries, making mental notes of the books and papers she recommended to them he was finally one of the last few there, everyone else having asked their questions and left. She turned to fix her eyes on him.

"Hi, erm, I just wanted to say great lecture, it was really interesting" he started nervously, "...and also...you mentioned that there is research going on here at the university. Well, what I really wanted to say was I would be interested to get some work experience done this summer and who would be a good person to talk to, to get my name down early to help here?" He said this all fairly quickly. Again Professor Cutter just smiled and then said,

"Well I would definitely call this early." she paused and studied the young man in front of her, "But you can consider this your name officially down."

"Oh great, thanks!" he said and began to turn and walk away before suddenly realising something. He turned back on his heel and said "Stephen, by the way, Stephen Hart" She smiled again, eyes slightly narrowed as he turned and quickly walked out of the lecture theatre.

Helen looked thoughtfully after him before quickly taking a pen from the hand of a student stood in front of her, his tongue practically on the floor and his eyes nowhere near her face. She smirked to herself as she wrote the dark haired student's name on the back of her hand then turned, paying no attention to the next person asking some question about book titles or saying what a good lecture.

In the meantime Stephen ran to catch up with his friends, who immediately commenced the joshing and filthy, schoolboy comments. Never one to sit back and take it, Stephen immediately retorted with remarks of a similar nature as they walked to the next lecture.

**Review please so I know whether to continue. And I know Stephen seems a little OOC but this is only his first year of uni, don't worry**


	2. Opportunities

**A/N: Thank you very much to Nathol99, Greta and Drodgers89 for letting me know someone's enjoying my little writings.  
****I'm not actually too keen on this chapter but there is a point to it and now I have a plan for the story, unlike these first chapters so i know where it's going :P**

**Disclaimer: Alas, no.**

The rest of the term continued with very little in terms of excitement. A few wild parties, as expected from students just away from home, and a couple of people dropped out when they decided that university life wasn't for them. None of Stephen's closest friends left, but his neighbour in the halls of residence packed up within the first few weeks, a loss Stephen was not too broken hearted over as they had not exactly seen eye to eye in terms of music taste, especially at 2 in the morning.

The male members of the course quickly agreed on their favourite lecturer, while the girls unanimously made Professor Cutter a subject of a lot of bitchiness and gossip.

"I can't believe the guys fall for that, she's a slag!"

"Did you know she's married? Her husband works here too, probably keeping an eye on her!"

The last revelation was one that had many boys moaning at their missed opportunity, and had many keen eyes looking for the other Professor Cutter.

Stephen increasingly began to wait after all his lectures at the front to ask questions, whether it was querying a point from the lecture, or asking for more information on something he had read outside of lessons. He became known to the lecturers and they would often greet him if they met around the campus. However in one class he began to lose interest in waiting around for the crowds to disperse because there was always a group of people who wanted to talk to Helen Cutter for that bit longer.

One day as he slowly packed his things, watching the crowds surge forward and deciding whether he really needed to ask about the fossil records detailing extinct Pleistocene nanofossils, he turned at the sound of a voice behind him.

"It's not worth it, not with her fan boys there. We wouldn't get a word in edgeways" said a dark-haired girl, just swinging her bag onto her shoulder in the row behind him. Stephen suddenly realised he was alone with her, as James and Gary had long since joined the fans at the bottom of the stairs. Their excuse this week, he recalled, had been a debate over who would win in a fight, modern gorilla or Homo habilis. He grinned at the thought. "What, don't tell me you've fallen for it too? You looked like you had some brains."

"Hey, I'm not going to complain about her." He replied. "Who are you, by the way? I don't think we've met. I'm Stephen." He smiled apologetically.

"Lia. And please, how can you not see she's trouble from a mile off. For a start anyone knows if you show that much cleavage to a teenage boy you can get them to do anything you want."

"I feel the need to protect our integrity here. I think we have a little more self control than that!" Stephen retorted, beginning to smile.

"Ha, well maybe you do, but I'm not so sure about Harry and Larry over there." They continued chatting amicably as they walked up the stairs out of the hall. Just before he left Stephen looked back to check on his friends and saw the professor staring straight at him. He met her dark eyes only briefly before turning back and following Lia through the heavy doors, quickly forgetting the incident.

Over the weeks Stephen and Lia began to get to know each other and found they actually had quite a lot in common, apart from the obvious interest in the same subject. They began to create a routine where they would meet up for lunch or coffee on most days. Stephen began asking her to come out with his friends when they were heading out into town for the night. Although it was something she usually avoided she became much more willing.

It was only about a month after they had met that Stephen bumped into Lia in the city library, not entirely by accident. He followed her to her favourite section and as soon as she sat down Stephen balanced himself on the table top next to her. She didn't even need to look up, as this was not the first 'random' encounter that had occurred.

"Hello stranger." She said, not looking up as her eyes were already scanning the page of her book.

"Whatcha reading?" Stephen asked in as uncharacteristically singsong a voice as he could manage in the quiet library. This time Lia couldn't resist looking up at him and grinning.

"Are you here purely to put me off?"

"That depends"

"On what?"

"Your concentration." He goaded. She huffed at him and laid the book down.

"Why don't you go and find something to read...or something _else_ to do?"

"Nah, sci-fi isn't really my thing."

"Well you should give it a try. I know, go find something by Raymond E. Feist, maybe he can convert you." Stephen looked at her thoughtfully, then in a quick movement pushed himself up off the table and walked to the shelves.

Just as Lia was getting back into her book an arm appeared over her shoulder and placed a book in front of her own.

"This any good?" Stephen asked. Lia turned in her seat to look at him and was startled when she found herself gazing directly into his blue eyes. Her face began to lift into a smirk at his antics but before she got there he had closed the distance between them and caught her lips with his own. They kissed passionately until Stephen suddenly saw the librarian out of the corner of his eye, scowling. Laughing, he pulled Lia up and they ran out of the library. Stopping outside he turned to her and said "You know, maybe I could be converted to science fiction. It seems a much more entertaining section than I thought!"

When they were next seen walking into lectures hand in hand they heard several comments from their friends, mostly along the lines of "Finally." This only made the young couple grin more as they realised they may have been the only ones who hadn't seen it coming.

It was in the same week at the end of his Natural History lecture that Stephen had another piece of good fortune. He was just getting out of his seat next to Lia when he heard someone call his name. He looked up to see it was Professor Cutter so, silently, he walked down to the front. The few students that were persevering with their attempts to get her attention closed in around him and the professor while Lia hung back curiously.

"You called?" he asked, silently wondering what he had done wrong.

"You don't have to look so guilty, Stephen. All I wanted to say was that your chances for getting a research job here in your first year are slim." Stephen looked downhearted but Professor Cutter continued quickly. "So I would suggest you find someone who could give you a good reference, and possibly some work in advance, an apprentice job perhaps."

Stephen nodded, looking down thoughtfully. Then realisation dawned on him and he looked up at her face. Reading something in her eyes he asked, "Do you have a job I could take?"

"Why yes, I think I can find something for you to do over Christmas if you want." She taunted.

"Thanks, that...that would be great!" Stephen said, amused by the sarcastic way she made her comment. "Should I come back to you later for the details?" He pointedly looked at the people stood around him, taking in every word.

Professor Cutter raised her eyebrow in amusement at his attitude but nodded at his question, at which he turned and walked back towards Lia. Grinning widely Stephen put his arm around his girlfriend and together they walked up the stairs and out of the theatre.

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**Please give me some feedback, it's quite sad how happy it makes me, even constructive criticism.  
****Also I'm quite flattered to see just how multinational my readers are, thank you to everyone for making me feel special :D**


	3. All I Want For Christmas, Is Monotremes

**A/N: Thank you to drodgers89, nathol99 and Greta as well as you hopeful readers who kept checking back to see if I'd updated.**

**I would like to apologise profusely for the long delay but I have been doing a play and have had no spare time whatsoever for school work, never mind extra things. **

**On a good note now though, Christmas holidays are here so there **_**should **_**be lots of time to write :D**

**Disclaimer: Not mine and (most likely) never will be :'(**

Stephen next had a chance to speak with Professor Cutter a few days later when, on his way to get lunch, he met her on the path outside the main building. As he headed towards the nearest sandwich shop she seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of him. He was startled but recovered quickly.

"Stephen, do you...?" "Professor, I was meaning..." They both started at the same time, but stopped and waited for the other to speak. Stephen gestured just as Helen began again. "Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, I was just getting lunch but it can wait." He said, quickly thinking that he could explain a short delay to Lia later.

"Perfect, follow me." She said shortly, before turning and walking back the way Stephen had just come towards the university. Eyebrow raised, he followed obediently.

When they reached Professor Cutter's office she took two slightly different animal skulls from a bookshelf against a wall and placed them on her desk in front of Stephen. "I thought you would want some background information on the work we're doing. These are fossils of mammals living in the Cretaceous period. One is a fairly recent discovery of the Teinolophos genus, while the other belongs to a much closer relative of modern marsupials, from the late Cretaceous. The work we are doing currently is into the earliest dating of the Mammals diverging to evolve into the Australosphenida."

Stephen tried to keep up with her but he found himself a little slow, trying to recall all the different time periods and genus names, while deciphering jargon he hadn't yet come across. He ended up looking around her spacious office and seeing there were in fact two desks in there. However the other was so cluttered with papers and general debris that he had barely noticed it when they had first walked in. He tuned back into the professor's voice as she said "Unfortunately with you being so junior in the course and inexperienced the best I could do was get you going through the old records. It may not be particularly gripping, but it might help you get into some of the juicy fieldwork later." A half smile flickered across her face, which he returned deliberately.

"No, that's great. I appreciate your getting me anything to do at all, really." He told her honestly.

"Well, I have some contacts." She glanced over at the other desk before quickly turning her head back and with a shooing gesture said "Now, go. You don't want to keep Miss Lia waiting do you?" Stephen's eyes widened briefly at the thought of teacher's knowing the gossip among students before he realised he would already be about 10 minutes longer than expected and with a hasty thank you turned and quickstepped from the room.

All too quickly for some, and too slowly for others the students' first term of university came to an end. With many Christmas greetings exchanged they went their separate ways for the holidays, most people not going to see each other again until the new year.

Stephen and Lia, whose families now lived in London, were looking forward to seeing quite a bit of each other, while Stephen would also be able to get into the university relatively easily.

After the weekend in which Stephen went back to his parents he was straight back into working. He had a slightly longer commute than usual before he made his way to the department of Natural History and tentatively knocked on the door labelled Helen Cutter, beneath other gold lettering which read Nick Cutter. The door swung open to reveal the former, wearing a much more casual vest and jeans outfit compared to the usual blouse she wore for lectures.

"Right on time, I see." She said, already walking past him. "Come on then." They walked along a corridor Stephen had never even noticed to a small cupboard at the end. The professor unlocked the door and immediately began piling its contents into Stephen's arms. When he could carry no more files, papers and manuscripts he was set the task of searching through them for references to previous research on the evolution of monotremes in Australia.

His job was monotonous and mostly fruitless but whenever he did happen to come across something of interest he was to mark the page so someone more involved could look it up later. To pass time he found himself reading unrelated information detailed in the papers, particularly the diaries of a man who had been trekking through the rainforests in South America, searching for an elusive breed of . Some of the records were very old and just as Stephen was beginning to get a headache from the musty smell building up in the quiet office room that had been cleared for him, Professor Cutter walked in.

"Need a break?" Stephen gave her a drained look, to which she responded with a smirk. "I thought you might. Come and have a look around the lab."

"Really? Cool!" Without thinking he tucked the book in his hand under his arm and wandered after the woman, who was striding purposefully ahead. "Made any breakthroughs today?" He asked conversationally. She looked sideways at him and then laughed.

"No breakthroughs, no. We're just moving steadily forward. How about you? Got anything we might find useful?"

"Not much, just a couple of vague references really." He said slightly sheepishly, knowing he could have been working through the books much faster if he'd not let himself get distracted by the fanciful ideas of trekking through unknown lands.

The labs weren't quite the white desktops and chemicals he had envisioned and experienced at school, in fact his first impression was more like that of a garden shed, with tools like trowels and rakes on the walls. A central desk was currently covered in different pieces of bone, mostly lying in a line down the table top. Quickly reading the labels over the shoulders of people walking around looking busy Stephen realised they were mostly jawbones and had been laid out in chronological order of estimated time period. People in mostly ordinary clothes with a couple of lab coats were doing all sorts of things, like in a beehive and Stephen was fascinated by all of it.

When Professor Cutter left him to his own devices Stephen had a good look at all the graphs and sketches being made, the scribbled notes strewn around the room and down the unoccupied microscopes at specimens being dated. Soaking up the atmosphere he found a corner out of the way of the researchers and finished his reading for the day there.

Lia didn't seem quite as impressed with Stephen's job as he was. As far as she could tell he was doing all the boring work so they could keep the good stuff to themselves. However it was Christmas Eve when she saw otherwise because they were cuddled up on the sofa having a very lazy day, watching one of the countless Christmas films on TV, or so she thought. She was leaning against his legs and hearing a noise she looked back at him to see he had a book propped open in front of him and was paying no attention at all to the film.

"Stephen!" she said, annoyed

"What?" he looked up guiltily before trying to hide it with a feeble "I'm watching."

"What is there in those musty books that's made you into such a geek?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"It's just...well, this is the record of when the first platypus was brought to a professor in England. They thought it was a joke and it's funny." He looked at her cautiously before quietly asking "You really think I'm a geek?"

"Well just look at you!" She said, before laughing at his crestfallen face. She leant forward and kissed him, saying "But it's good, geek is sexy" at which they both grinned.

"Well in that case..." Stephen said mischievously and leant behind the sofa to the coffee table. When he sat back down he had his Dad's spare glasses perched on the end of his nose and a serious look on his face, which soon dissolved at Lia's snort.

After that she complained less at his dedication to the project, mainly because she confiscated the books when he brought them home. Meanwhile at the university the work was always moving forward and Stephen was becoming better known among the team. They would often go out to get lunch as a group and they even trusted him to make the notes himself, because the person who usually did had been called out into the field.

The holidays passed faster than Stephen had expected and it was soon the last day of the holidays. Stephen had finished his last day of officially working and had said goodbye to all the team. He spent the last day sat on the sofa with his arm around Lia, not doing much at all.

**Well, that's been a busier holiday than I expected. And my self-imposed deadline is to get this up on Christmas Eve. Here goes, but the editing may suffer...**

**Please, even a one-word review is helpful (some suggestions: good, bad, boring, interesting?) Christmas cheer to all readers, especially those who leave a comment )**


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